Eric Martin

Co-founder / Chief Maker

Accreditations: BCIN Houses, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2011

Eric Martin – Picnic Design

Eric Martin is a creative multidisciplinary designer with a background in architecture, interior design, and urban design. With over 20 years of local and international experience, he worked at leading Toronto firms before cofounding Picnic Design. In the creative aspect of his craft, Eric’s process does not distinguish between these various disciplines, but rather sees them as a single vision that happens to be executed by traditionally separate and distinct professions.

His portfolio spans high-end residential, hospitality, retail and workplace projects, with high-profile work for The Drake Hotel, Lululemon, and the Ismaili Centre Toronto. Drawing from this diverse background, Eric brings a thoughtful, context-driven approach to every project, and seeks to evoke what makes each of his clients unique, in each of them.

Brock House

Early Life

Eric was born in North Bay, Ontario. Having spent his childhood summers in various campgrounds across Canada, following his father wherever his pipeline work took him, he developed an affinity for the wilderness, camp community, and the compact and multi-functional living spaces that the setting offered.

He discovered his passion for design and architecture while making countless objects, forts, and other structures for himself and his friends. At the age of 14, he designed and built a prefab, flat-packed fishing hut for his father, the satisfaction he derived from which cemented his love for design as a profession.

Fort York Condo

Seaton Village

Design Journey

Prior to starting his practice, Eric worked at Toronto-based internationally recognized firms such as architectsAlliance, 3rd UNCLE design, and Cecconi Simone, where he developed his craft and grew as a designer in various capacities.

The diversity of projects he worked on ranged in sector from hospitality, retail, and workplace design to institutional, high-end residential, and multi-residential. Some of Eric’s high-profile projects include The Drake Hotel, Levi’s, Lululemon, Ismaili Centre Toronto, St.Lawrence Centre for the Arts, and SchoolHouse boutique condos.

While at architectsAlliance (& sister company planningAlliance), Eric worked on various project types in Ontario and overseas, ranging from urban design and community planning to resettlement projects involving housing and community buildings. High-profile projects include Nature Conservancy of Canada, Pueblo Viejo Resettlement Housing, and the Hearst Community Improvement Plan.

Brock House

Fulton House

Entrepreneurial Path

Brock Suites

In 2016, Eric embarked on a journey of entrepreneurship. He was accepted into OCAD’s incubator program, where he initially developed Ringr, an all-in-one concierge for your front door.

Eric’s creative process and market research led him to pivot his startup to focus on tackling the problem of missed deliveries at home, which proved to be a much greater pain point. The product that emerged was Boxr - a smart bench that lets homeowners receive deliveries when they’re not home.

After building his first prototype, which he introduced to the public in 2017 at Toronto’s Interior Design Show, he got his first test customer - Chris Hadfield. Later, following multiple media interviews and write-ups that catapulted Boxr into the spotlight, he was invited to pitch to CBC’s Dragon’s Den producer. He was also one of the top 8 contestants in a pitch competition for Canadian Tire.

In 2019, he brought his passion for creative, collaborative, and multidisciplinary projects to his own practice when he launched Picnic Design Inc. with partner and architect Joanne Lam.

Waterfront Condo

Brock House